Dear Esther,

I’m 23, currently working as a full-time mid-weight graphic designer in Melbourne. I love it, but I’m now looking for some extra income – and was thinking freelancing out of hours would be perfect.

I was wondering if you had any advice for finding good freelance design work – out of hours? I specialise in branding, publication design, advertising design and copywriting – and I’ve attached my current folio to give you an idea of where I’m at.

I’ve sent my folio around to a couple of recruitment agencies with a great response, but they only really find jobs for within business hours.

Thanks heaps,
– More Please

Dear More Please,

First of all, your contract may well prohibit you from working for any competitors while you are employed full time. Even if there’s no specific reference to freelancing outside of office hours, I doubt they’d be very pleased if you needed to leave your work, esp if it’s busy, to go to another studio.

Small personal business projects on the side are usually okay, but again, check your contract. Wedding invitations, small corporate ID jobs, labels and such are common. But it is very rare in the ad or design industry that you’d be able to hold down two quite demanding jobs in one day, even over short freelance stints.

The best advice I think is to concentrate on furthering your career by advancing in your day job. Your work is great and I hope they are paying you the right sort of salary. If not, maybe you need to look around, or line up a performance review with your boss.

If your career is okay and you are just saving up extra money for a trip or a car, go work in a bar or a cafe. Don’t attempt two mentally demanding jobs in the same field. Your day job will suffer.

Good luck
Esther

You can ask Esther Clerehan anything about putting your book together, getting a job, what salary to ask for or what to do when someone steals your ideas. Go on, Ask Esther. There is no other creative recruiter with more experience to educate us on the art of the job hunt. You can email her here at junior at wtf@lifeatthebottom.com. (wtf null@null lifeatthebottom NULL.com)